PUBLISHED : 21 Jan 2024 at 17:32
Afghan authorities said a private plane carrying six people crashed in the northern part of the country, and a rescue team has been dispatched to the site.
The accident occurred in Badakhshan province at about 7pm local time on Saturday, the Afghan aviation ministry said in a statement. Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport said a Dassault Falcon 10 aircraft with two passengers and four crew lost communication and disappeared from radar on Saturday evening.
“The plane crashed in the high mountains of Badakhshan province,” Zabihullah Amiri, the provincial head of information and cultural department, said by phone. The rescue team has yet to provide information on the situation and if there are casualties, he said.
The aircraft is owned by Atletik Grup LLC and an unidentified individual, the Russian authority said, adding the flight departed from Gaya, India, and was headed for the Zhukovsky airport near Moscow. Another report said the plane departed from U-Tapao airport.
The Moroccan-registered plane was an air ambulance that was flying from Thailand to Moscow and refuelled at Gaya airport, according to India’s civil aviation ministry.
Two Russian citizens were passengers on the plane, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency said later on Sunday, citing a source “in the operational services”.
A manifest list for the plane which named everyone on board and which was published by the SHOT news outlet appeared to show that the crew were Russian nationals too.
Russian investigators said on Sunday they had opened a criminal investigation to determine whether there was any violation of safety rules.
